2009
House stood in front of the whiteboard staring at a set of symptoms. It was just after midnight and they'd all been working since the day before.
"Maybe Greg's soap star really is-" Reilly began when all their pagers went off. She looked down at hers. "Ugh. We have to go down to the ER. Bus crash."
"Well, there's nothing we can do for Brock Sterling right now," House said. "May as well go down and pull glass shards out of people."
As soon as they arrived in the ER, Cuddy rushed over to House and Reilly. Her face was pale and her breath came in short gasps.
"Niamh was on the bus," she began. "A pole impaled her liver and one of her lungs. She also suffered massive head trauma when the bus flipped. We've made her comfortable-"
"Where is she?" House growled as Reilly leaned into him clutching his shirt.
Cuddy led them to a quiet corner of the ER. She pulled back the curtain and stepped back. Niamh lay in the bed, hooked up to an EEG, a heart bypass machine and a respirator.
"I'm sorry," Cuddy whispered. "The damage was too extensive and she lost too much blood before they found her. I made them put her on the machines before I called you."
Reilly gripped the edge of the bed and pulled herself forward until she stood by Niamh's side. She took her aunt's hand and began to sob.
"Get her on the list for a kidney and liver transplant," House said walking around to the other side of the bed. He pulled a stool over and sat down. He looked at Niamh. She was bruised and cut but she looked serene as if she was merely sleeping.
"It's too late," Cuddy told him. She looked at Reilly. "You're her next of kin. You have to decide what you want to do."
Reilly swallowed hard. She looked at the EEG and saw there was no brain activity. "Unhook her," Reilly said. "She's gone."
"NO!" House shouted. "We get her a new kidney and a new liver!"
Cuddy slipped away closing the curtain. Reilly looked at House.
"Greg," she said softly as tears flowed down her cheeks and dripped off her chin. "Look at the EEG. She's gone."
House laid his head down on Niamh's shoulder and rested his hand on her stomach. "I asked her to stay. She was going to stay."
"I know," Reilly told him. "She loves you so much."
House stood up and turned off the machines. The heart monitor began a long steady beep. He put his fist through it. Reilly ran over to him and took his bloody fist in her hands. He gathered her in his arms and they both cried.
Reilly sat next to House on a plane headed for Ireland. Most of her family filled the seats around them. They were taking Niamh home.
When they arrived in Shannon, Arden was waiting for them. Tad and Gaia both died several years earlier. They all waited in the terminal as Niamh's casket was unloaded from the plane. A large van from the local funeral home drove up to the plane. Two men got out and transferred the coffin to the van then drove away.
"They're takin' Ma to Aunt Branna's house to be laid out for the wake," Arden told them as they made their way to the bus waiting outside the terminal. Porters were loading their luggage into it.
Meara stopped him and cupped his face. "You're allowed to grieve for her," she told him.
He nodded. "I have and I will," he told her. "But now is the time to celebrate her life, right?"
Meara nodded and followed Gil onto the bus.
"A bus?" House rasped.
"Greg," Reilly whispered as she took his hand. He gripped it tightly and they got on the bus.
When they arrived at Branna's house, the van was already there and the men were unloading the casket. Branna, who could have been Meara's twin, directed them into the house.
House climbed down from the bus with Reilly behind him. Branna's sons and grandsons unloaded all the luggage from the bus. The bus driver got out once everyone was off and helped carry the luggage into the house.
"How much do we owe the bus driver?" House asked as Reilly walked up to the house with him.
"Nothing," she told him. "That's Uncle Iain, Aunt Graine's husband. He works for the bus company in Shannon."
The walked up the steps and House faltered. He gripped his right thigh. Reilly looked at him with concern.
"It's fine," he told her. "Just a cramp from sitting so long on the plane." They entered the house and he noticed all the mirrors were covered.
"What is it with you Catholics and Jews covering the mirrors?" he asked with a sigh.
"It's part of the Irish wake tradition, as you well know," she told him. "Why don't you go sit down. I'm going to help prepare Niamh."
"I suppose you'll do the whole traditional cleaning, dressing, rosary, cross and candles?" he asked.
She nodded. "The funeral mass is in three days. Then she'll be laid to rest in the family cemetery next to Nan and Pa."
House reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a marble rosary with a platinum Celtic cross. He put it in Reilly's hand and closed her fingers over it.
"I got it for her for Christmas," he told her. "She loved it and carried it with her most of the time. Ironically, she forgot to take it with her the night of the bus crash. Bury it with her."
Reilly nodded and walked toward the back of the house. House looked around and went back outside. He wandered around until he found a bench under an ancient gnarled tree. His leg was beginning to throb. Slowly, he sat down and rubbed his right thigh. He looked up at the bright blue sky visible between the branches and leaves of the tree.
"I guess the ketamine is finally wearing off," he whispered.
House entered the Diagnostics conference room. He leaned heavily on his cane and held a bottle of Vicodin in his left hand. His beard was thick and shot through with grey. His clothes were wrinkled and there were bags and dark circles under his eyes. Cameron looked up at him and walked over to him. She smoothed his wrinkled dress shirt and then hugged him. He stood stiff and unmoving until she released him.
"I'm sorry," she whispered and moved away from him.
Kutner and Volakis watched him from their seats at the table. Reilly turned from the coffee machine and looked at him.
"The nurses are on strike," she told him. "We don't have any patients. Doctor Cuddy wants us to fill in where needed. You don't need to be here."
"Have I been fired?" he asked dully.
She sighed. "No. Just go home."
He looked at the other members of the team. "Get out," he ordered.
They pushed their chairs back, got up and left. Once they were gone, House sank down in an empty chair and opened the bottle of Vicodin. He poured two out into his hand and put them into his mouth. Swallowing them, he leaned his arms on the table.
"I can't stand to be there," he said. "Everywhere I look, I see her things."
Reilly came and sat down next to him. She placed his red mug filled with coffee next to him.
"I can help you pack her things up," she told him. "I can ship them to Ireland."
"I can't do it," he told her.
She reached up and smoothed his hair. He leaned into her hand. "Then I'll do it," she responded softly. "You can go stay at my house."
He nodded and slowly pushed himself up. He looked down at her. "No comment about the cane and Vicodin?" he asked.
She shrugged. "The ketamine wore off."
"Wilson tells me it's psychological."
"Of course he does," she sighed.
"You think so, too," he stated.
"I think the ketamine wore off because your heart broke. But, I also believe the pain in your leg is very real."
"I'll be at your place," he told her and then walked out.
Reilly and Cameron entered House's apartment. They both grimaced when the smell hit them. There was garbage everywhere.
"Let's get Niamh's things packed up and then we'll clean," Reilly told Cameron.
Cameron nodded.
An hour later, there were boxes in the hallway and Reilly was on her knees scrubbing the bathroom floor. She looked over her shoulder as Cameron carried dirty clothes out of the bedroom and added them to the pile in the hallway.
"When are you going to tell him?" she called out sitting back on her heels.
Cameron came to the doorway of the bathroom. "I don't really know how to tell him," she responded. "Especially after everything he's been through."
"You can't hide the ring forever," Reilly told her. "You're getting married to Nate. It's better that you tell him rather than having him hear it from someone else."
"I know. He's just been through so much."
"He's at my house," Reilly told her. "I'll sit down with you and you can tell him while we wash his clothes."
Cameron nodded and went to the kitchen.
After three hours, the apartment was spotless and smelled fresh. They loaded the laundry and the boxes into Reilly's SUV and drove to the post office where they dropped off the boxes to be shipped back to Ireland. They arrived at Reilly's house and carried the laundry in. House was asleep on the couch in the family room.
"I'll come back later," Cameron whispered.
"Oh, no, you don't," Reilly whispered back. "You go sort the laundry. I'm going to order pizza and then wake him up. You are telling him." Cameron turned and started to walk to the living room where they left the laundry. Reilly grabbed her arm. "And don't even think about leaving."
"Fine!" Cameron whispered furiously and stomped out to the living room.
Reilly went upstairs to her bedroom and opened her top dresser drawer. She pulled out the t-shirt she borrowed from House all those years ago when they were sharing an apartment. She carried it downstairs and placed it on the coffee table in front of the couch where House slept. She went out to the living room, called for three pizzas to be delivered and then helped Cameron with House's laundry.
The smell of pizza and the sound of the television woke House. He stretched and sat up. Reilly and Cameron were sitting in the two chairs flanking the couch, eating pizza and watching a movie.
"Good, you're awake," Reilly said as she got up and went into the kitchen. She returned with a bottle of beer which she handed to him. He took it, removed the top, and took a long swallow. Then he reached for a large slice of pizza. Leaning back, he took a bite of the hot, cheesy pizza loaded with everything. A flash of light caught his eye. Cameron reached for another piece of pizza with her left hand. The diamond ring she wore caught the afternoon sun again.
"Mazel Tov," he told her nodding toward the ring. "Soccer Guy?"
She nodded. "He asked me the day after…."
"You can say it," he told her. "Niamh died. She's dead."
Cameron licked her lips. "He asked me the day after you left for Ireland. For Niamh's funeral."
"See?" he asked. "That wasn't so hard." He looked down at the coffee table and his neatly folded t-shirt. Looking up at Reily, he smirked. "About time you returned it."
She smiled. "I'm just switching it out for your Lincoln Mayne's t-shirt with the skulls and flowers," she told him.
"I love that shirt!"
She smiled. "Well, I'm going to borrow it for a few years."
He put his feet up on the coffee table. "Is my apartment clean?"
"Yes," Reilly told him turning her attention back to the television. "We're doing your laundry now."
"Did you ship all Niamh's things back to Ireland?"
She nodded. "I did leave her computer, a few pictures and some of her books. Hope that's okay."
House shrugged. "It's fine." He focused on the soap opera and they all fell silent.